It has been a year since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ opened in theaters. In that short time it has become one of the ten most successful films of all time, with a box office gross to date of more than $370,000,000. Unlike the other beloved blockbusters in the rarified air of “top ten” – with names you know like Spider-Man and Lord of the Rings – The Passion has opened in theaters for a second time. This time it is billed as a “re-cut.”
Mel Gibson explains in a very personal interview,
The Passion re-cut? I suppose you want the scoop. Thank you by the way for all the support you gave me out there. Many of those who really loved the film wrote in and told me that you wished you could have taken your Aunt Martha or Uncle Harry or your grandmother or some of your older kids and you thought that perhaps the intensity of the film was prohibitive to those people. I listened to that and it inspired me to re-cut the film to cater to those people that perhaps might not have seen it because of its intensity or brutality. It’s about five or six minutes less, and indeed I have softened it somewhat. It is still a hard film. I maintain the integrity of the film I wanted to make yet alleviated some of the more horrific aspects of it, so I am hoping it will attract a wider audience and I hope you like it. I like it.
Few films have stirred more controversy than The Passion. I might wryly observe that no human being has stirred more controversy than Jesus Christ. Interestingly, however, it is not the usual questions of divinity or doctrine that fuel the flames of this controversy. It is the graphic intensity of the depiction of the torturous punishment of Christ and the heated accusations of anti-Semitism.
Among Latter-day Saints the primary controversy has been the MPAA rating and whether the positive potential of a power film accurately depicting Christ’s passion nullifies – in this single instance at least – the official stance of the brethren against “R” rated movies. To go or not to go? Many Mormons have seen the film. Many have not.
Gibson had hoped for a PG-13 rating in the re-cut. “Maintaining the integrity of the film” made that impossible. Even with 6 minutes of the most graphic violence removed, the “R” rating remains.
Before I saw the film last year I wrote:
I do not look forward to the feelings that will grip my heart when The Passion brings me to the feet of the suffering Christ. But it is a feeling I want to experience. We speak and preach so casually about the sacrifice of Christ, the “price he paid for us,” the blood he shed and the agony he suffered. Such phrases have become so familiar to us it is more prosaic than real. But now as Christians we have a chance to stand along the painful path the Savior of the world walked for us the last twelve hours of his life. It will not be pleasant but it is an experience I want to add to my mortal life because I know it will deepen my understanding and increase my gratitude to Christ for what he suffered and why. Whether your own tastes tell you Passion is a movie for you I encourage you to support the effort to bring it to the world.
After I saw the film with Mel Gibson in his private screening room I wrote.
Is The Passion of the Christ a film that you should see? My answer; Yes. No. Maybe. For those who believe in Christ and who have “taken his name upon them,” the film may be interesting or worthwhile or colorful bits of glass in the mosaic of our lives. I cannot recommend this film to you. I cannot not recommend this film to you. It was for me an uncommon experience that transcended most of what we have come to expect in the movie theater. It is graphic. It is intense. It is brilliantly crafted. It is enlightening. It is difficult to watch at times. It is something I would not want to miss. If you are browsing this article in search of a “notable quote” from Kieth Merrill on which you can hang your decision – or abrogate your personal responsibility – here it is. I can neither encourage nor discourage anyone from seeing The Passion of The Christ.
I have seen the film again since then. As part of my research for another project I screened hundreds of hours of movies and compared The Passion with every significant motion picture about Jesus ever produced – from Sidney Olcott’s Manger to the Cross (1912) to The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd (1998). I look forward to seeing The Passion – Re-Cut.
And what is my advice and opinion now?
It has not changed. For those who have not seen the film and wonder still whether or not they should see it I can only repeat what I’ve already said, albeit this time with a more transparent bias in favor of including the experience in one’s Christian walk.
Many who found sufficient perspective from my words to attend the film have thanked me. Some who interpreted my comments as a recommendation to disobey the mandate of the brethren to “avoid R-rated movies” have criticized me. At least one zealous brother accused me of “lacking the sprit of Christ in my work” and “promoting faults that lead to the suffering of my fellow brothers and sisters and necessitate the full suffering of those faults by Him who atones for all.” I was disdainfully castigated. Alas. Free agency is alive and well. I am grateful this good brother will not be appointed my ultimate judge.
My niece was married last month. I traveled to a different state to attend the temple with her and meet her husband-to-be for the first time. At the wedding luncheon I was seated with the groom’s side of the family. Strangers all. As I sat down a woman on the far side got up, rounded the large table in disruptive rush and persuaded the man sitting next to me him to trade her places.
“Forgive me for being so forward,” she apologized, “but I never thought I would ever met you in person and I have something I have to tell you.” The anxiety in her voice and awkward shuffle at the table was enough to presume that she was not interrupting my lunch to tell me how much she enjoyed The Testaments.
She introduced herself as the aunt of the groom. “I read Meridian magazine,” she began. “When The Passion came to our theater last March (2004), I did not know what to do. I wanted to see the film because of my belief in Christ and interest in everything related to the Him but my family and I do not attend R-rated films. I prayed for two weeks and then happened across your article, ‘Passionate Choice.’ It helped me,” she continued, “to make up my mind to see the film.” She paused. Memories flooded back. Images filled her mind’s eye as tears filled her eyes. “It was one of the most profound experiences of my life. It gave me an understanding and appreciation for those events that I have never had before.”
She went on to describe the powerful feelings she felt on her drive home and how she continued to ponder the experience after she arrived.
“I was home for half an hour,” she told me, “then I got in the car, drove back to the theater and went to the film a second time.” It was apparent from the way she described her decision that the second screening only added to the power of her experience. “I just wanted to thank you for helping me decide to do something that has had such a positive influence in my life.”
The controversy over the graphic depiction of violence will continue. The cries of anti-Semitism will likely rise again as the film returns to theaters. Curiously I discovered that no film about Jesus ever made reached the screen without grave concerns that telling the biblical tale according to the scriptures and “Christians’ bias” would fan old flames of discrimination.
Among Mormons who have not seen the film the conundrum of those of us who found the film an appropriate choice and the difficult dilemma of choosing between “the letter and the spirit of the law” will continue – as it should – in the realms of individual agency.
As for me – and I as I expressed it to my most scornful critic – the Lord knows my heart and who I am. I do strive to have His spirit in my life and in my work. I am confident He will not be offended that I chose to see this powerful cinematic re-creation of His suffering and will understand why I wish to include these two hours of “being there” to my life-time quest to know Him whom God has sent.
FEATURES
